My parents have just arrived in the US for a holiday. They turned up at work straight off the plane, looking a little tired and careworn, but reasonably happy. They had expressed an interest in taking a look at my work area, so we headed for my desk. It turned out that I was a little nervous to show them around the building, because that meant I had to introduce them to all of my "adopted" family - my fellow PDIers. It kind of felt like a first date for some odd reason, but every introduction went well, with plenty of chatter. I don't know why, but it seemed important to me to show my parents just how cool the place is for me to work in. A justification for the abduction of their only child to a foreign land, if you will.
It made me think about the relationships I have developed with my co-workers over the last eighteen months, and how I would be really upset to have to leave this supportive environment to fend for myself in the big scary world outside my window.
Fortunately I don't have to, and can continue to bug these people for advice, a fresh pair of eyes, and of course, ping pong.
Today I received my first shots on our latest piece of cinematic confection. I've been given some really cool acting moments, so I'm very happy, (along with that familiar daunted feeling, of course). In spite of feeling like I should be pressing buttons by now, and thus proving that it's worth having small Welshmen around, I am trying to follow my own blog ramblings and take the time to just think about what I want to achieve with each shot.
When the time comes to present my ideas, I am going to show some drawings of poses. That's right! The computer geek is going to use a pencil and paper! I know this all very irregular, but I feel I should give it a go. Hmmm.... Did I mention I can't really draw? Oh dear. In addition, this is made all the more worrying by the fact that I work with some of the finest 2D animators/draughtsmen in the world.
Ho Hum.
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It'll all be fine, of course - it is the ideas that matter!
Yesterday I went to the cinema with a group of friends to see "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory". One couple have an 18 month old, named Gibson, and it was his first visit to the cinema. It was fascinating to watch his experience play out, and I think I spent as much time watching him as I did the screen.
I don't think he knew quite what was going on as the lights went down, but once happily situated on his mum's lap, he was absolutely transfixed by the giant screen. I think he stayed that way for about 3/4 the film, which is pretty impressive really.
It kind of made me think about my own experiences with movie-going. Until recently, going to the cinema was one of my favourite pass-times. I'd be all excited and want to get there super-early to get the best seats, then sit completely silent for two hours whilst someone told me a story. This doesn't seem to be the case at the moment however, for I can't seem to muster the enthusiasm. Instead of sitting wide-eyed and expectant I just get frustrated with the whole experience. Is it the increasing levels of objectionable behaviour of my fellow patrons? Poor choices in films? Lack of sweet popcorn for sale in US cinemas? I don't know. Whatever the reason, I want the experience to move me again, just like that first visit to the cinema once did...
I've got to pose some characters for the cover of a DVD! This in itself is a tremendously cunning marketing move by the Home Video department, for sales will undoubtedly treble once my mum gets wind of this...
If there was a competition for shamelessly extolling the virtues of a child, then my mum would win, hands-down. Perhaps I should try and have her get some me sponsorship for shoes or something. What do you reckon, Nike Air Geek? Nice!
Also, I really love this new short. The style looks to me like commercial illustration from the 50's, and is therefore the best thing in the world ever. Woo!
With our fun little project wrapped all up, I find myself with a bit of free time, and I must say, I'm enjoying it immensely. It's strange though, for lots of other stuff has seemed to expand and fill the space where I would normally be keying away!
I've learnt a fair bit on Madagascar, so how I can apply it in the Shrek universe to really push the quality of my work?
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(tick tock) (tick tock)
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Well Kevan, I think the main thing is attention to detail. You need to take that eye you've managed to somehow develop and really examine your shots as they progress. You've got some key poses, some inbetweens, they work well, by how do your arcs turn out as the computer interpolates your values? You are responsible for every frame after all! You should track elements as they move through space and look at the spacing. Are there any pops, jumps, nasty frames? If so, fix them!
In a world constrainted by the laws of physics, body mechanics are super important. Look at your weight distribution, transfer and balance. Are things moving as though motivated by a driving force?
Finally, take a step back at look at the composition of the work as a whole. Clear silhouettes, staging, and readability please, squire!
On Tuesday I was able to attend two talks by visiting famous people, who came to work to talk about past projects. I'm a little behind the times, so I'm only able to get into writing about this now. Sorry!
The first talk was by Stan Winston, the founder of his eponymous studio, and also, it turns out, Digital Domain. Stan sounds like a truly creative guy, and he described his career path from working in makeup and prosthetics to advanced puppetry and animatronics in "Predator", "Aliens", "The Terminator" and "Jurassic Park". Stan confesses to know very little about computer graphics, (in spite of running a computer animation studio), but maybe that's a boon in many ways. As a artist in the most traditional sense, he would be unconcerned with megabytes and deformations, and more interested in performance, aethestic, and feeling. This is something I reckon I need to do more of - to step back and look at the big picture with a critical eye. It's ridiculously easy, when beavering away during production to see all trees, and no wood!
The second talk came later in the evening. Pete Doctor, the director of "Monsters Inc", (and general Pixar genius guy), came to introduce his English language translation of "Howl's Moving Castle". The film was good, and it was fascinating to hear how Hayao Miyazaki creates these films. Apparently, he is the story department at Studio Ghibli, and nothing gets underway until he says so. It's such a different way of working to the Western production methodology, and a film is totally dependent on a single visionary. I wonder what an animated film would be like if produced in America in this way? How many directors would be up to such a task?
So what motivated my posting of Jan's email in my last entry? Well, since beginning my career as an animator, I have become acutely aware that we involved in computer animation are sometimes a bit too concerned with the techie elements at the expense of the creative side of things. I include myself in this statement, for it is all to easy to let the computer influence a piece of animation as it develops. Jan's advice to think first as an animator, then a story-teller and THEN a computer animator is a very sound philosophy, and indicative of a common Pixar sentiment, but is still very hard to apply when confronted with the demands of production.
It is possible to be these creatives though, and just takes a bit of resolve. Upon receipt of the assignment, whatever it may be, the temptation is to get clicking away, but why not take some time to sit with a bit of paper and plan out what you want to achieve? That's what I do, and it actually helps me to keep things clear when I get to pushing buttons. I also try to ask myself questions about the nature and motivation behind the piece, and then aim to answer these questions through the work. Doing these two things really can make a difference. For if you know what you are going for, then you'll be much less likely to accept something the computer can offer you.
I thought that I would post an email I received during my final months at university. It is from Jan Pinkava, the director of Pixar's "Geri's Game", (and now "Ratatouille"). I had not long returned from my PDI interview in California, and I had emailed him to ask his advice on making the move to the US. I'm sure he won't mind me passing on the wisdom contained herein.
Um, please ignore the first bit - I'm not posting this as a form of self-congratulatory look-at-me nonsense, but more for the last paragraph. It touches on stuff I wish to write about in a later post, and something many of us computer geeks can do well to heed.
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From: Jan Pinkava <............@pixar.com> Sent: 30 May 2002 01:08:34
Dear Kevan,
Your short "Joe's Playtime" is an accomplished piece of student work. Congratulations. I think you have a good future ahead of you in animation. I particularly like your clear sense of character design.
[edit]
Make sure you continue to work on your animation and design skills. Draw more and more and more. Work on story writing, story boarding. Remember the computer is a tool. Think like an animator first, story teller second, computer animator last.
Some time ago I did an interview for the Western Mail, which is apparently Wales's biggest selling native newspaper. From the emails I have received today I gather that the article has come out, so if you happen to be in Wales, happen to buy a newspaper and that happens to be today's WM, then you will see some grinning idiot sat at a computer. It is me!
The internet's hero-animator, Victor is answering questions on CGTalk this week. Have a look what he has to say!
I remember emailing Victor whilst still at college, congratulating him on his Pixar appointment and asking him to comment on my student work. He wrote back straight away with some pretty insightful pointers. Now an animation mentor, at least he now gets paid for looking at all of the stuff he must receive from animation wannabes such as Kevan circa 2001.
Strangely enough, I now receive one of two emails from people interested in my chosen occupation. Me?! Crazy, isn't it? I guess I must be doing something right. I do always try to respond wherever possible. After all, that's what Victor et al did for me.
Less than a month after graduating from university, I started work at Double Negative as a matchmove artist. There really wasn't much hope of securing work as an animator straight out of school, for those jobs are few and far between, and of course people with experience will always be taken on first. Matchmoving is generally seen as a good entry position into the VFX industry. It requires a fair amount of technical skill to do the job well, and thus is usually given to promising new hires to see how they cope with things. What is matchmoving, you ask? Well, the job is mostly concerned with how CG elements are integrated into live-action background plates, (or vice versa). Tracking points are placed on the filmed footage, and their X/Y co-ordinates are tracked for the duration of the shot. These are then plugged in software that can, given some information about the shooting environment, extrapolate a virtual camera that mimics the one used to film the shot. If this works, the camera can be exported into 3D software, and a scene set up for the artist to add CG elements into.
It's a bit of a hit-or-miss process, for if one thing doesn't work, then other approaches can be used, right the way down to approximating the camera frame-by-frame, by hand. I was fortunate to learn from some really cool people, and so was able to settle in reasonably quickly, to start working on "Tomb Raider 2".
I had lots of fun at Double Negative - my peers were a close bunch, and everyone would head across the road to the pub at every opportunity. (I believe it still happens to this day.) About six months in though, and just as I'm about to be given some more animatey things to do, I receive a transatlantic call from PDI. Would I be interested in coming over to California to work on Shrek 2? At first, this scared the hell out of me. Living away from family in London is one thing, but the west coast of the US slightly further away.
In the end, after umming and ahhing over it for a week. I accepted the job. It was my parents who encouraged me to go, pointing out that this kind of opportunity doesn't come around all that often.
So yeah, there you have it. That brings us up to about 18 months ago. It was crappy making the move, what with all of the bureaucracy and all, but I am grateful to my parents for the kick up the behind.
It's all good, really. I'm sure this story isn't unique, and will most likely be repeated by others in due course. At least it shows it can happen, right?
I have to put it - all words and opinions expressed on this site are my own and do not represent those of the nice company that pays me money to move computer-generated characters around.
